Drawing Boundaries
by Estrelle Buscador
Summary: Helga and Arnold have just recently started dating, and things are going great - until a new girl has her eyes set on Arnold. Arnold doesn't know how to break the news to her, so Helga takes matters into her own hands...
1. New Seniors

Greetings Readers! Here is a new HelgaxArnold story. It'll be short, but I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! or any of its characters. Please don't rub it in. :)

* * *

The first day of their senior year was the next day, but the world of academia was the last thing on either of the two teens' minds as they lay on the blanket on the boarding house roof, looking up at the stars. Helga yawned and stretched her arms above her head before sitting up and grinning down at her boyfriend. He gazed up at her and smirked. "Enjoying the view, Football Head?" She asked.

Arnold grinned at her as he sat up and put an arm across her shoulders. "Of course," he arched an eyebrow as he pulled her closer, "and the stars weren't half-bad, either."

Helga rolled her eyes, but smiled as she leaned in towards him. "Such a charmer," she whispered. Arnold's eyes lit up as he realized what she was about to do and he too began to lean in. Helga's eyes slid closed and Arnold's became half-lidded as the two moved closer together, their lips mere centimeters apart –

"Hey, short man!" Grandpa bellowed from the stairwell after unceremoniously banging the door open. "I got a quick question for ya."

The two jumped apart, Helga hiding her face by staring into the picnic basket that Arnold had brought up with them and Arnold turned bright red. "Grandpa!"

"Slim!" Arnold's grandma's voice was heard echoing up the stairwell, "Leave the kids alone – they're on a date!"

The two teenagers turned, if possible, an even brighter red and Grandpa whined, "But Pookie…"

"Slim! Get down here!"

"Fine. I'll ask you later, short man." And then Grandpa exited, closing the door much more quietly behind him.

Arnold smiled apologetically as he looked over at Helga. "Sorry about that."

She grinned back, fighting back her blush, and handed him the basket. "That's okay, Arnold, it's not your fault. Sandwich?"

"Don't mind if I do." Arnold reached into the basket and pulled out a sandwich. "What would you like? A sandwich? Fruit?"

"Just a sandwich for now, thanks." She accepted the wrapped sandwich and leaned against his shoulder as she unwrapped it. She swallowed her bite and sighed blissfully. "This has been the best summer of my life."

Arnold gently pressed her head onto his shoulder and began running his fingers through her hair, which she was wearing loosely down her back. "Mine, too."

It had been a big summer for the both of them – they had confessed their feelings for each other, after being set up by their friends, and had begun dating. The two had been nearly inseparable all summer, and both were disappointed that the start of school would mean a limit on their free time together. That made them all the more determined to enjoy the rest of their time together, a task that was increasingly difficult as the boarders kept coming up to wish the two luck on their final year of high school. At least, that was what they said. The two were suspicious that the others were just trying to catch them kissing.

They enjoyed the silence and the feel of each other as they leaned onto their shoulders and ate their dinner. Arnold turned and brushed her lips across her forehead. "Do we have any more dessert, Helga?"

Helga peeked inside the basket, and rubbed the cookie crumbs from her lips in an apologetic fashion. "Sorry, I just ate the last cookie."

"Hmm," he smirked as he tilted her chin up towards his face, "then you owe me some dessert." Realization dawned on her somewhat perplexed face as she reached up to let him touch her lips with his. She wound her arms around Arnold's neck and he pulled her closer against him. They were beginning to lose self-consciousness in the bliss of their only uninterrupted kiss of the evening when…

"Hey there, man!" Gerald's voice boomed into the night as he opened the door and strode onto the roof, grinning as he approached the two. "Ready for tomorrow?"

His girlfriend Phoebe followed him at a brisk clip, grimacing apologetically at their two friends who looked both embarrassed and affronted. Arnold looked merely irritated, but Phoebe could see the thunderclouds building in her best friend's eyes, and she began backing up to get out of her friend's path.

"Tall Hair Boy…" Helga muttered menacingly, as she rose to her feet, "you better start running. Now."

Gerald simply grinned at Arnold and sent a wink at his girlfriend before turning and sprinting down the stairwell, Helga in hot pursuit. "I'm going to kill you, Gerald!"

Arnold got up and chuckled after the two runners as Phoebe shook her head beside him. "I'm sorry about that, Arnold. I thought you two would want to be alone, but you know Gerald…"

He chuckled again, hugging the girl he looked upon as a sister as well as a friend, "It's okay, Phoebe. They'll be back soon enough."

"If Helga doesn't kill him first." Phoebe sighed.

**···**

"I can't believe that he managed to get two blocks away before I caught him, Phebes," Helga said as she pulled out her books for her morning classes and closed her locker door, "maybe he should try for the track team instead of the baseball team this year."

Phoebe grinned at her. "Thanks for not killing him, by the way, when you caught him."

Helga shrugged, "We were getting interrupted all night, anyway. Besides," she added, "it's thanks to him and you that we got together in the first place. Well, you and Gerald and – "

"Hey, girls." A new voice said, and both girls turned to face the newcomer. Both smiled.

"Hey Brainy! How was your vacation?" Phoebe asked.

"It was fine," Brainy replied, "and how goes the dating, Helga?"

Not too long ago, it would have been unusual to see Brainy talking that much in public, let alone having a conversation with Helga that lasted longer than ten seconds or didn't end with a forceful backhand to his face. But their relationship had changed from borderline stalker/stalked interactions to a genuine friendship their freshman year when Brainy had come to her aid. An upperclassman had begun harassing her and tried to steal her backpack; normally, she would have been able to take the idiot down without breaking a sweat, but in the process of grabbing her backpack he'd ripped her ribbon into several pieces. Brainy, who'd been standing nearby as usual, had seen her state of dull shock at the ripping of the ribbon and had sprung to her defense. Not being a fighter himself, he was quickly pummeled to the ground but gave her enough time to strike back at the bully. And just like that, they'd become friends.

After a while of hanging out with Phoebe and Helga, Brainy had become more confident – holding himself higher, speaking out more often, and in general becoming much more self-assured. The once-silent wheezer had become one of the more popular, outgoing members of their old gang of friends, and was fun to be around – even if he did have a slight obsession with puns. And, he'd been the third friend who'd helped get Arnold and Helga together.

"It goes fine," Helga replied, "and how about yours?"

"Well," Brainy began, a faint red dusting the bridge of his nose.

"Ooh!" Phoebe clapped excitedly, "Our Brainy's got a crush. Details, details!"

The warning bell rang, and Brainy heaved a quick sigh of relief. "I'll tell you later. Come on, we only have ten minutes to get to class – and I don't want to get detention on the very first day."

"You guys go ahead," Helga waved them on, "Arnold said he'd walk me to my first class – I'll see you in a few minutes."

"Okay," Brainy shrugged, and then began walking down the hall, "but hurry okay? This teacher's no Mr. Simmons."

**···**

Arnold was rushing through the hallway, mentally groaning at whoever had set up the locker assignments that year – he was about as far from Helga's locker in the seniors' hallway as he possibly could be. He was in such a hurry to get to her so they could make it to class on time that he paid no attention to where he was going. So when a girl ran out into the middle of the hallway, also not paying attention to where she was going, the collision was inevitable.

"Oof!" Arnold grunted as he fell backwards from the crash. Rubbing his sore back, he looked up to see a very flustered girl he'd never met before scrambling around to pick up the papers she'd sent flying everywhere. Being himself, he immediately helped pick the papers up and handed them over to her. "There you are. You okay?"

"Oh!" She flushed an ever brighter red. "I'm so sorry – I didn't mean to run into you. It's just I'm new here, and I don't know where I'm going, and I'm –"

"It's okay." He said reassuringly, "First days are always weird, especially when everything's new." He got up and held a hand out to her. "I'm Arnold."

The brown-haired girl took his hand and pulled herself up. "Brooke."

"Nice to meet you, Brooke. Anything I can help you with?"

"Well," Brooke got a better look at the guy and was briefly distracted by how cute he was, "If you could tell me where I could find my homeroom, I'd be really grateful…"

"No problem." He smiled, and looked at the schedule she held out to him. "Oh, that's easy. Go to the second hallway and make a left. It'll be the first classroom on the right." A bell rang above their heads, and Arnold glanced at his watch before groaning. "I'm sorry, but I have to run – we only have ten minutes before class." He smiled apologetically, "But I should see you around probably – and if you need any help just ask."

"Okay," Brooke said shyly. "Bye!"

Arnold waved goodbye and then tore off down the hallway to where a blond girl was impatiently tapping her foot, only to smile broadly when he kissed her on the cheek.

"You're late, Football Head."

But Brooke barely registered any of that as she floated off to her next class, too busy thinking about the dreamy boy she had just met…

* * *

A/N: Uh-oh. New girl's got a thing for Arnold. But that shouldn't bother Helga at ALL, right? (*cough*) I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

I have a question: If you've read any of my other stories, you'll notice that I put BrainyxLila in a lot of them. Should this story include any of that? Vote and let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading, and please review! They make me happy (and speed up updates!)


	2. Chemistry

Greetings Readers! Thanks for all the reviews! Luckily, I was able to get this chapter finished sooner than I thought I would, and I hope you enjoy!

Special thanks to all those who reviewed:  
**NintendoGal55: **Oh, you know they will in the end, lol. No story of mine will ever break that up! And I shall put in the BrainyxLila, as you command. A little bit works in here, but more comes later. Thanks for reviewing!  
**Anonymous Latina:** Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy this update!  
**acosta perez jose ramiro: **Thanks!  
**Loca4Anime:** Masterpieces? Aw, shucks. I'm blushing. :) Thanks, I do try to keep them well in character and I'm glad to see it's working. And Arnold is the perfect guy...if only I had an Arnold... *dramatic sigh* I hope this quick update makes you happy!  
**Kpfan72491:** Thanks for reviewing! Enjoy this chapter!

Warning: Somewhat OOC Brainy, unless you've read my other stories in which this in a consistent characterization of him (*blatant fanfic plug*)

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! or any of its characters. Sadly.

* * *

Arnold slid into his first class just as the final bell rang, wiping the sweat from his brow as he dove into the closest available desk, exhaling deeply with relief. He felt a hand clap jovially on his shoulder and turned to face Gerald who was laughing at his flustered appearance.

"Good going, man, you just made it."

"Yeah," Arnold attempted to catch his breath, "I needed to walk Helga to her homeroom and I got distracted."

"Ooh," Arnold turned around to see Harold smirking and crooning at him, "Arnold had to walk his new girlfriend to class."

Some of the other guys snickered lightly – Helga and Arnold's new relationship was well known by all of the old gang, since they saw a lot of each other over the summer. The girls all thought it was sweet, and the guys liked taking every opportunity to tease Arnold about it.

Arnold simply glared back while Gerald shot back, "This coming from the guy who brings his girlfriend coffee every morning?"

Harold's ears burned while the boys began heckling him – tough Harold Berman was a complete pushover when it came to his girlfriend and everyone knew it. "Oh, shut up!"

"Thanks, Gerald." Arnold said in an aside to his best friend.

"No problem. I got your back." The two wiggled their thumbs in their typical handshake. A quick, sharp clapping was heard from the front of the classroom, and all heads whipped towards the front of the classroom where the homeroom teacher was trying to attract their attention.

"I only have you bunch for the next few minutes before it's off to your classes," the teacher said, "but I'd like to remind you all to take this year very seriously. This is the year for college applications, for improving your class rank, for – " The door opened, and the entire class sighed in relief for the end of the worn lecture as the teacher turned to face the incoming student. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am." Brooke said timidly as she came into the room, brushing her bangs out of her eyes with one hand while clutching her textbooks tightly in the other, "I was originally supposed to be in Mr. Hemmings's class, but then there was a last minute change of schedule, and he told me to come here instead –"

"Calm down," the teacher said kindly, granting the clearly nervous girl a smile as she placed a hand on her shoulder, "You're new this year?"

The brunette nodded eagerly, as though grateful to have reached the same page on something. "Yes."

"Yes, Mr. Hemmings told me about you this morning." The teacher gestured towards the desks. "Take a seat anywhere. I'll help you finish registering once class ends."

Brooke nodded in response, and then nervously scanned the desks. Upon seeing Arnold, her eyes lit up with relief and recognition and she nearly ran to the empty desk behind Arnold. She giggled slightly as she leaned towards him, twirling a brown curl in her fingers. "Hi, Arnold."

He turned around and smiled. "Hey, Brooke. Looks like I gave you the wrong directions, I'm sorry."

She smiled and shrugged, "It's okay – you told me what the schedule said, and I made it okay." Brooke took a deep breath and then said hesitantly, "Um, Arnold? I was wondering if maybe, if you weren't busy, we could…"

The bell rang, and Brooke jerked upwards, her face red. "Everyone to your classes!" The teacher exclaimed, "Brooke, come on up here and let me get you finished up."

Arnold stood up with the others and looked down at the new girl apologetically. "Sorry, we have to get to class. But I'll see you around, okay?"

"Okay," she replied quietly, "see you. Bye."

Arnold beamed her another reassuring smile before he was rushed out the door by his friends, leaving Brooke waving after him with a dazed look on her face. Brainy looked back in time to see her being gently pulled up to the teacher's desk before the door closed behind them. He smirked and elbowed Gerald. "Looks like Arnold has himself an admirer."

Gerald looked back and chuckled before turning to the other guys. "Think he noticed?"

Harold gave a bark of laughter as he watched Arnold walk ahead. "Doubt it." He clapped a hand on Arnold's shoulder. "You didn't notice, did ya, Arnold?"

Arnold raised an eyebrow, looking confused. "Notice what?"

His confusion only grew when his only answer was a roar of laughter. _Am I missing something?_

**···**

"So…" Sheena wheedled.

Helga looked up from her notebook, the corners of her lips twitching with amusement. "So, what, granola girl?"

"You know what, Uni!" Rhonda groaned exasperatedly, rapping her pen on her desk. "You and Arnold got together finally at the beginning of the summer – and we want details."

"Sorry girls," Helga smirked, "but I'm not one to kiss and tell."

Rhonda rolled her eyes, "Yeah, like we're going to believe that, Uni – you're dying to tell us and we know it."

"Besides," Lila smiled as she swept her long auburn braid behind her back, "we can always ask Phoebe."

Helga's homeroom was progressing in a much more smooth manner than Arnold's, which was unfortunate as that meant that Helga had no protection from the third-degree interrogation her friends were giving her on Arnold.

"You wouldn't, would you Phebes?" Helga asked.

Phoebe smiled broadly. "And why wouldn't I?"

Helga graoned and rubbed her forehead, "Some best friend."

Phoebe laughed, "But it's so good to hear about, Helga – I've got to be excited about it if you're not."

"Who says I'm not excited?" Helga countered.

"Then why don't you just tell us about it?" Nadine pointed out.

Much to their delight, Helga seemed to be caving in – but then the bell rang, and the girls who had nearly been leaning over the desk in anticipation of the juicy news groaned in unison. She simply jumped up and smirked. "Oh, is that the bell? Gotta go meet Football Head, later!"

Phoebe giggled, Lila stifled a laugh behind her hand, and Rhonda forked her hands on her hips imperiously as they watched Helga dart out of the class.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say she planned that."

**···**

Brainy readjusted his safety goggles as Arnold pulled out the lab notebook they were using for that day's experiment. While Arnold was flipping through the notebook's pages and pulling out the right glassware from the lab bench, Brainy let his eyes scan their fellow classmates. Advanced chemistry was not a required class for graduation, and usually only students focusing on the sciences were interested in taking it. None of the faces came as a surprise, especially since Brainy had known them all his life – until his eyes fell onto Phoebe and her partner who were sitting two lab tables behind them. Brainy bit back a laugh as he recognized the girl who was absentmindedly nodding at Phoebe's enthusiastic chattering over the day's components as she was obviously gazing at Arnold. A quick glance confirmed Brainy's suspicion that Arnold had no clue he was the object of admiration, but he shrugged. It was probably for the best if he didn't notice.

"Hey Brainy!" Phoebe piped up from her table, her goggles perched on the end of her nose. "Do you guys have any extra goggles? The ones the school gave Brooke got cracked."

"Sorry, I don't." Brainy called back apologetically.

Arnold looked up from the page and smiled back at Phoebe. "Hold on, Phoebe – I have an extra pair." He quickly rifled through the backpack beside his stool and pulled out the goggles. Goggles in hand, he walked over to the girls and gave Phoebe the glasses. "There you go. Hey!" Recognition dawned as he saw Brooke, "Hi, Brooke. I didn't know you would be in this class, too."

"Yeah," Brooke said, somewhat dazed, "well, I…love science and stuff."

"Cool." Arnold said, "You should like this class this – Mr. Ciencia is great." He turned. "I'd better get back to my seat. Talk to you ladies later."

Phoebe smiled after him. "That's Arnold for you – always looking out for others." She tapped the notebook with a pencil. "Come on, Brooke, we should get started."

"Yeah…" Brooke was fully occupied in watching Arnold walk over to his seat, clutching his goggles to her like a lifeline.

Brainy shook his head slightly with amusement as he looked at his friend's oblivious face. _Yep, he doesn't have a clue._ "So, how are things going with Helga?" He asked as Arnold sat down and bent over the notebook.

A lovesick look passed over Arnold's face that put the expression on Brooke's features to shame. "Things are going great. I can't think you enough for helping set us up."

Brainy shrugged, grinning. "What else could I do, you guys are my friends. Besides, it was the only way we could get you both to stop being all lovesick on us." He smirked at Arnold's lack of reaction as he was lost in daydreaming. "Hey, wake up – we've got chemistry to do." Arnold was still dazed so Brainy raised an eyebrow and continued, "Although maybe you'd prefer studying the chemistry between you and Helga…"

Arnold snapped out of his daydream, his ears burning. "Hey!"

Brainy grinned, "What?"

"You know what!" Arnold hissed, "That was a terrible pun."

Brainy shrugged. "It's what I do."

"Well, I wouldn't suggest using anymore," Arnold grinned back, his momentary embarrassment gone with his usual good humor in its place, "because I have access to volatile chemicals and know how to use them."

Brainy rolled his eyes. "Oh, yes, I'm shaking."

The rest of the class passed without incident, although not for lack of trying on some people's parts since Curly seemed determined to add all of his chemicals simultaneously in the same beaker because it would 'make the most spectacular, enormous flame.' To everyone's relief, the teacher managed to keep the enthusiastic pyromaniac at bay, but he looked physically exhausted when calling the class to order. "All right, that'll be all for today. Be sure and prep for next week's lab and – Mr. Gammelthorpe! Leave those alone!" Curly looked a little like a child who had been caught stealing cookies as he returned the chemicals to the bench. "Thank you. See you on Friday."

The bell rang and the room was filled with conversation, groans, and shuffling as the students got up, stretched and began grabbing their things to head out the door. Brooke grabbed her bag and walked up to the teacher, looking a little ill-at-ease. "Mr. Ciencia?"

"Yes?"

"I don't mean to complain, but I've been having trouble finding my way around. Could you tell me how to get to the registrar's office?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't at the moment – I have a conference that starts in two minutes. Ms. Hyerdahl!" He gestured at Phoebe, "Would you be able to?"

"Sure!" she beamed, but then her face fell as she looked down at her planner, which had a large neon Post-it note on the cover. "No, wait, I can't. I have an emergency meeting of the student council." Phoebe had been elected student council president for the second year running.

"Emergency meeting?"

"I know it's strange – but we need to have the new constitution hammered out before Thursday." Phoebe shook her head. "There's no denying our predecessors were intelligent, sir, but their writing skills were not their strong point. I'd be surprised if they could spell democracy."

Mr. Ciencia tried to stifle a laugh. "Now, Ms. Hyerdahl, I think you might be exaggerating – " Phoebe pulled out a sheaf of paper and handed it to him. His eyebrows crossed. "Good grief, I've never seen constitution spelled with five t's. Very well, Ms. Hyerdahl, and good luck."

"I am sorry, Brooke," Phoebe apologized, "but I can help you later."

"That's okay." Brooke tried to smile, but still looked overwhelmed.

Mr. Ciencia looked around, and his eyes lit up. "Arnold, could you come here?"

Arnold inwardly sighed, he'd been going with Brainy to meet with Helga for lunch. "Yes, sir?"

"Would you help our new student find her way around?" Mr. Ciencia looked at Brooke. "He's one of our best students and I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

Actually, Arnold did kind of mind – he and Helga didn't have any morning classes together and he'd been looking forward to seeing her. Besides, he'd wanted to surprised Helga with some of her favorite cookies, which he'd baked after their date the night before. But his frustration faltered when he saw Brooke's anxious face, and he managed a genuine smile. After all, it was bound to be scary to be completely new, and he knew he should help. "Sure." He turned to Brainy. "You go ahead to lunch. I'll meet up with you as soon as I can."

Brainy nodded.

"I'm sorry, Arnold," Brooke said as she walked over to him, contrite but also secretly thrilling.

"Don't worry about it," Arnold smiled. "Come on, let me give you the grand tour."

**···**

"You're late, Brainy." Helga accused teasingly as he sat opposite her at their usual table at the cafeteria. "You and Phoebe are just abandoning me today." She shook her head. "Some friends."

"Yeah, yeah." Brainy laughed, "Just because you creative arts people get out early doesn't mean that us hard-working science nerds do." Helga, after publicly acknowledging her gift for writing two years before, and threatening to knock anyone's block off who teased her about it, she'd been on the liberal arts track the school offered. "Besides, we had to stay after to make sure Curly didn't take any of the chemicals."

"Riiiight." Helga snorted, "I really don't know why he's allowed near fire anymore, but that's this school for you.

Gerald sat down besides Brainy. "Hey guys." He stretched his arms behind his back. "Man, baseball practice was a killer today. Where's Phoebe?"

Brainy replied, "She had that meeting today…for the council or something."

"Actually, no she didn't." Phoebe walked up behind them, looking more irritated than her usual docile expression, "my vice president ditched on me, we'll have to do it tomorrow." She sat down and began rubbing her temples.

Gerald scooted close to her and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. "Relax, _kirei_. You'll be able to finish it in time, I know it." He kissed her cheek. "Let yourself take a break while you can."

She smiled up at him and gave him a peck on the lips, which caused her boyfriend to chuckle and pull her even closer. "You're so sweet."

"Ugh," Brainy groaned good-naturedly, "no more lovey dovey stuff, please. It just reminds me that I am bitter and alone."

Helga's eyes lit up mischieviously, "Speaking of which, you never did tell us who that special girl was, Brainy. Out with it!" From her position against Gerald's shoulder, Phoebe also leaned forward in anticipation.

Brainy winced, knowing he had only brought that upon himself. Truth be told, up until recently the girl he'd been interested in had been Helga, but long ago had resigned himself that that affection would never be requited. He had dealth with it as best he could, but he'd never expected to care for another girl in that way. But then, the thought of another girl had replaced Helga in his mind – her laughter, her kindness, her beautiful face. He shook his head to try and focus. But there was no way he was going to tell the girls who she was – they'd never let it go.

"Well?" Phoebe wheedled, and Brainy sighed. From beside Phoebe, Gerald shrugged and sent a look of solidarity and sympathy to the other boy.

"Hey everyone!" The voice of an angel came to Brainy's rescue and, at the sound, he turned so quickly he hurt his neck. He rubbed the sore sport absentmindedly as Lila walked over to them. Still one of the sweetest girls in their class, she was also one of the most beautiful with her shining auburn hair and sparkling emerald eyes and occasionally still caused men, even those she'd known for years, to suffer temporary paralysis upon seeing her. "How was your summer?"

"Pretty good."

"Not long enough."

"Guh."

All heads looked over at Brainy, who looked slightly dazed. Lila leaned towards him, looking concerned. "Brainy, are you all right?"

"Good, I mean, it was good." He quickly answered.

"Good." She smiled. "Is it all right if I sit with you?"

"Sure," Helga nodded. The two got along well now, especially since Lila had continued to not show any romantic interest in Arnold.

"Thanks." Lila put her backpack on the bench besides Brainy. "I have to go buy lunch. Be right back." She waved before walking to the lunch line.

Brainy waved back so hard that he fell backwards off the bench and onto the floor. Helga and Phoebe smirked down at him. "Well, I think we've figured out who the girl is."

Brainy flushed a bright red, but didn't bother to deny it.

"That's so sweet!" Phoebe clapped her hands together. "I wonder if she likes you back."

"Well, as good friends," Helga declared, waving her pencil slightly in the air, "Phebes, we have to find out."

Brainy buried his face in his hands, and Gerald patted him sympathetically on the back. Once the girls got on a matchmaking tear, there was no stopping them.

"Oh, relax, Brainy," Helga smirked, "we'll do it subtly. Okay, Phebes, as soon as she gets back from the lunch line," she glanced over to the line, "we'll take her aside and –" She paused and did a double-take, her eyes lingering a lot longer the second time. Her back straightened a little, and her voice had stiffened as she spoke again.

"Uh, who is that girl with Arnold?"

* * *

A/N: Dun dun DUN! Helga has seen new girl, how will she react? By the way, I am writing Arnold as bright but completely clueless about other girls' affections. He only has eyes for Helga. This is not one of my favorite chapters, but I hope it came out all right.

I hope you enjoyed this!

Thanks for reading, and please review! They make me happy (and speed up updates!)


	3. Benefit of the Doubt

Greetings Readers! Here's the next chapter – I'm sorry it took so long to get it posted. Thanks to all those who have alerted and favorited this story!

A special thanks to all those who reviewed:  
**NintendoGal55: **I agree – Helga's spent way too much time wanting Arnold to just throw him away. She's too mature for that. Simple? Well, I guess that's good. I know exactly what you mean about drama…a little bit is good! She's going to be drawing those boundaries pretty soon…Thanks for your reviews!  
**Kpfan72491: **Thanks! Yeah, Helga is pretty obvious, but somehow Arnold seems to miss that.  
**Anonymous Latina:** Thanks! Oh, she will pretty soon.  
**Loca4Anime:** Gracias! Unfortunately this chapter wasn't nearly as speedy – sorry! Brooke will continue to be a confusing character for a little bit longer – when the others realize what she's like, so will the readers! Helga's going to deal with her soon enough, but I need to make sure her actions are justified and not just flat out mean. Soon!  
**Acosta perez jose Ramiro:** Merci! Yup, it amuses me that such a smart guy could be that oblivious – but he has to be for this story.  
**MiseryluvsDeath: **Thank you. I hope you find this chapter interesting as well.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! or any of its characters. Unfortunately.

* * *

Helga's voice and face were calm, but no one at the table missed the storm brewing behind her eyes despite her attempt to appear casual. Collectively, they followed her gaze and saw Arnold standing next to Brooke in the lunch line. Brainy groaned internally as he realized that, while he, Gerald, and Phoebe had all met the new girl and were able to put a name to her face, all Helga was seeing was a new, pretty, brunette, brown-eyed girl who was standing very close to her boyfriend. And she was not happy about it.

Brainy broke the tense silence. "That's Brooke, Helga – she's a new student. Mr. Ciencia asked him to show her around."

"Hmm," Helga was making an effort to understand, but Phoebe and Brainy could see the insecurity in the set of her face. Absentmindedly she straightened her shirt and ran a hand through her hair in an attempt to primp up her appearance. Her hand caught on the scrap of pink ribbon that she tucked into her long ponytail, and she held it in front of her. Helga smiled reminiscently as she looked at the worn pink fabric and remembered the day she first wore it – the day she first met Arnold.

Phoebe placed a hand on Helga's shoulder and patted it reassuringly, and Brainy continued. "I wouldn't be worried, Helga. He looked kind of frustrated when Mr. Ciencia asked him, I think he'd rather be here."

"Who'd rather be where?" Lila asked as she placed her food on the table and sat onto the bench beside Brainy.

"Arnold," Phoebe piped up, gesturing with her head towards the lunch line. "But he's busy helping the new girl out."

"Oh," Lila looked in the direction of Arnold, who seemed to be fielding questions between Brooke and the lunch lady. "I agree. He's being really nice, but I could tell he really wanted to get over here." She beamed at Helga. "He keeps glancing over here when Brooke isn't looking; it's really sweet, the look he keeps giving you."

Helga glanced back over at Arnold and could feel her heart warm pleasurably at the warm, admiring gaze he was giving her. Arnold grinned when she realized she saw him and winked, causing her to blush. Her blush faded somewhat when Arnold turned back to get his own lunch and the new girl looked at him with the same admiring look that he had been directing at her. Helga was pretty sure that Arnold didn't like that new girl, but she didn't like the looks the girl was giving him.

Helga could nearly feel the steam beginning to billow behind her eyes and shuffled through her lunch sack in an effort to hide the fact from her friends. With deliberately meticulous movements she pulled out her sandwich, apple, and soda, brushing her hand across a brightly colored package at the bottom in the process. She smiled at the thought of the little box and stuffed it further inside; it was a little surprise for Arnold and she didn't want the others commenting on it.

She was so occupied that she didn't even notice the others walking up until Arnold's voice sounded right above her ear. "Hey everyone! Sorry that I'm late."

Helga looked up to smile at Arnold when Brooke spoke up. "Actually, that's more my fault." She smiled apologetically up, but the expression faded when she saw how admiringly Brooke was gazing at her Arnold.

"Don't worry about it," Phoebe smiled up at her, "we didn't mind sparing Arnold for a little bit. Right?" Helga was in a slight haze and didn't immediately respond so Phoebe aimed a kick at her best friend's ankles.

"Hey!" Helga yelped ruefully as she rubbed her sore ankle, glaring at the seemingly innocent face of her friend. It was times like this when it was painfully obvious that her friend was a master of several martial arts – her kicks could do some serious damage. But then she came to herself and waved a hand in the air. "Eh, no worries. Besides, Football Head can't stand not helping people."

"I'm glad." Brooke glanced down at her watch. "Shoot, my orientation starts in a couple minutes." She grinned at the general table. "I hope I can meet you all later – I have to get to the principal's office."

Lila furrowed her brows slightly. "In the middle of the day?"

Helga rolled her eyes. "Figures the school would do that – makes no sense."

Brooke laughed and then waved goodbye before bolting out of the cafeteria in her rush to be on time. Arnold quickly sat down beside his girlfriend, and his shoulder brushed against hers, her previous bad temper subsiding at the pleasure from his touch. "Seriously, guys, I am sorry that I'm late."

"Hmph," Helga scoffed, crossing her arms, "You should be. For being late, I don't think you deserve the surprise I brought for you."

"Surprise?" Arnold's ears perked up, and he began searching through his backpack. He gave a cry of discovery and then pulled out a plastic bag. Seeing her favorite cookies, Helga brightened and gave Arnold a peck on the cheek, which made his ears turn red.

"I have something for you, too." Helga reached into her lunch bag and pulled out the small package. She handed the package to Arnold, who raised an eyebrow amusedly and began unwrapping it. When he saw the chocolates in the box, his favorite from the candy shop downtown, he smiled at her.

"And now," she smirked, "you don't have to worry about me eating all your dessert."

"Oh," Arnold playfully sulked, "but I like what I get when I don't get dessert."

Helga laughed, "Well, I don't see why you can't get both."

Arnold smirked appreciatively and placed his candy on the table. Winding his arms around Helga's shoulders, he pulled her close and gave her a gentle but deep kiss on the lips. He felt her smile against his lips and she began to wrap her arms about his neck. A cough broke them apart and they both looked over at Lila, who flushed embarrassedly. "I'm sorry," she apologized, "I just didn't want you to get in trouble." She pointed, and the others looked in the same direction.

The vice-principal had just arrived and was standing in the cafeteria doorway. She was death on public shows of affection, and had been known to give out detentions to couples she felt were merely standing too close to each other. The new couple sent a grateful look at Lila, who blushed again and began poking a fork at her salad.

Gerald groaned low in his throat as Phoebe scooted further away. She smiled at him. "It wouldn't be good if the student president got detention on the first day of school, Gerald."

"Fine, _kirei_," he sighed in a long-suffering fashion, "but I hope tonight on our date I get some attention."

She blushed and looked up at him. "Well, of course…"

"Are you free tonight, Helga?" Arnold asked.

Helga nodded. "Yeah, schedule's all free. Why?"

"Want to go on a date?"

She grinned. "Sure. When do you want me to be ready?"

"Around seven."

She picked up his hand and squeezed it. "Sounds like a plan."

Lunch ended soon, a little too quickly for Arnold who had been unable to finish his food. They all threw their trash away and headed off to their separate classes, Arnold quickly kissing Helga after checking to see if the coast was clear. "See you after school," he called as he and Gerald went off to gym class. Brainy, whose gym class was scheduled for a different period, walked with the girls to their English class. Choosing a cluster of desks in the center of the room, despite Phoebe's protests that they should sit in the front row, the group began talking. Helga had been laughing, nearly forgetting the uncomfortable feelings that seeing Brooke had evoked, when said girl walked through the doorway. Her face stiffened somewhat and Brainy noticed, looking over to what had caused the change.

He smiled and tapped on Helga's desk until she was looking him in the eye. "You do realize that you have nothing to worry about, don't you, Helga?" She shrugged. "Helga, he admires you a lot, and he's not going to get his head turned by another girl, even if she does like him."

"I know it's stupid," she said in an amused tone, "but she's just so pretty and…"

"Who says you're not?" Brainy continued, "Believe it or not, you actually look really nice, Helga – even when you're laying down the law or breaking some poor innocent guy's glasses." Helga grimaced at that, remembering the numerous times she'd broken his glasses over the years – including the last time when his mother had finally had enough and let him get contacts. "You're just as pretty, Helga, and trust me Arnold knows it. He's been spouting poetry about it for pretty much all summer."

Helga brightened a little, but noticed – as Phoebe did – how Lila's face fell when Brainy was complimenting her. Phoebe was puzzled since they all knew that Lila didn't 'like like' Arnold, until she realized that Brainy was the one calling Helga beautiful. She chose to store the fact away for future discussion with Helga, but it was one more argument for their theory that Lila liked him back…

"Please promise me one thing, Helga," Brainy said, "please don't overreact to the way the new girl acts toward Arnold."

"Of course." She sounded affronted that he would even think that of her.

It was probably for the best that he didn't see her fingers crossing behind her back.

**···**

Helga stretched her neck and leaned against Arnold's shoulder. The two were sitting on a bench by the duck pond in the park by the boarding house. He'd picked her up at seven and the two had just wandered about and talked until they came to the park. Arnold had steered her to the pond and sat down on the bench before pulling a bag of bread crumbs out of his jacket pocket. Now, they took turns tossing them idly at the ducks, just sitting together and enjoying the peace and the quiet.

And also the memories. Helga had beamed at Arnold when she'd seen the pond where he'd decided to feed the ducks. It was the pond where their friends had set them up and they had realized the feelings they had for each other. _I'm glad about that now,_ Helga thought, _but I could have killed them at the time._ Brainy and Phoebe had lured her to the pond under the premise of gathering water plants for a science project, and Gerald just 'happened' to bring Arnold along as they were storing the plants away. Helga had volunteered to hold the plants in a particular way in the pond and Brainy was standing alongside her before he tripped and fell. Arnold immediately stepped in to take his place while Brainy ran home to change, and soon afterwards the other two friends made a break for Phoebe's house. She and Arnold had been forced to talk with each other for the thirty minutes until the plants could be removed, and in the process revealed their love for each other.

Their friends had admitted later to setting them up, but Helga couldn't have been more glad about it – it had finally hooked her Football Head.

Lips brushed against her nose and forehead, and her boyfriend chuckled, making her shoulders vibrate. "What are you thinking about?"

"Just about the others, and how they set us up here."

"Right." He smiled down at her. "I'm glad they did – I'd been trying for so long to get you to know that I liked you, but you seemed determined to miss it." He kissed her hair. "And now, I'm the luckiest guy in the world."

"Either that or the corniest."

Arnold rolled his eyes. "Coming from the girl who wrote all those poems about what in the fourth grade?"

She grinned and kissed him. "Point taken." She snuggled closer to him, "I'm glad too, Arnold."

The crumbs were all gone, and Arnold crumpled up the empty bag and threw it into a nearby trash can. "Want to walk around some more?"

Helga shrugged and nodded. He helped her up, and the two began to walk around the pond. The wind was cool and pleasant, and the rays of the moon made the tips of the water silver. As they walked, Helga stared into the crests of the water, remembering the friends that had set them up – one friend in particular. Arnold saw the somewhat glazed look in her eye and frowned. "Hey, what's on your mind?"

"Nothing much, I'm just worried about Brainy."

"Brainy? What's the matter with him?" Arnold's voice sounded concerned.

"He's just lovesick. He really likes Lila."

"Does he now?" Arnold thought about it and grinned, "But how's that a problem? Does she not like him back?"

"Phoebe and I think she does – but he'll never see it." Helga groaned and shook her head. "Like today, he was trying to compliment me and she looked all upset. Like he had a crush on me instead of her."

Arnold mused on the fact. "Something tells me you girls are going to come up with some way to have them get together."

"That's very perceptive of you, Arnold." Helga grinned, patting him on the shoulder.

"Would it do any good to advise against it?"

Helga shook her head and smirked. "Nope, afraid not. Besides, it worked for us, didn't it?"

"Touché." Arnold grinned back, and then noticed her shivering from a quick blast of cold wind. He took off his jacket and draped it around her shoulders. Helga stopped walking and pulled the folds of the jacket closer to her. Her boyfriend looked concernedly at her, and then pulled her into his arms. "That should keep you warm."

Helga turned a bright red and smiled. "I'll say." She cleared her throat; she needed to be subtle about this. "So…how was your day?"

Arnold squinted in confusion, "Fine, I guess. Pretty uneventful though."

"Really?" Helga furthered, her previous question hadn't been too subtle but at least it wasn't obvious enough for Arnold to see through it completely. "What about meeting new people?"

Arnold shrugged, holding her closer. "I don't think I met anyone new except Brooke – she seems nice."

"That's all you can say about her?"

Arnold laughed, "What else can I say? I haven't talked to her for very long – but I'm sure we'll get to know each other pretty well soon enough."

Helga heaved an internal sigh of relief. It was clear that Arnold not only didn't like Brooke romantically, he also had no idea that she had a crush on him. That being known, she guessed she could let Brooke's crush go. After all, how could she blame anyone for liking the wonderful person that she herself had admired for most of her life?

She gave him a look that made his face heat up. "That's true. But how about you get to know me a little better right now?"

Arnold laughed again, a rich chuckle that sent pleasant sensations throughout her entire body. "I thought you'd never ask." Tightening one arm around her waist, he used the other to lift her chin towards him and descended upon it to claim her lips in a very thorough kiss.

**···**

Despite her best intentions, Helga couldn't keep herself from growling under her breath as she watched her boyfriend get pulled around by the new girl. There had been some sort of mess with the scheduling system and Arnold had gotten pulled in to help the new students. Unfortunately the one who had the most complicated schedule and therefore needed the most assistance was Brooke, whose admiring gazes had only intensified over the week.

"Easy." She heard Brainy murmur from the desk beside her, and she turned to look at him.

"Look, I'm trying." She groused, "It's just hard to see her following my boyfriend like a lost puppy for the last week. And what business does she have looking at him like that anyway? He's taken."

Phoebe sighed. "Helga, she seems like a nice enough person. She probably doesn't even know that he's dating anyone. She's new."

Helga deflated. "I guess that's true. But…what if she does know that he's dating, and just wants to try to change his mind?"

Brainy groaned. "You're just being paranoid. But if it makes you feel any better, I'll go ask her about it. See if she knows he's already taken. You won't do anything if she doesn't know, will you?"

Helga nodded ruefully. "I guess not. But if she does know, that girl is in for a rude awakening."

Brainy shook his head and got up. "Fine. And if she doesn't, I'll find some way to tell her."

"Fine." Helga crossed her arms.

Brainy left the room on the mission, and Helga tried to compose herself. _Just relax, Helga old girl, Arnold wouldn't leave you for anyone else. And Brooke probably doesn't know and it would be stupid to act against her if she doesn't. _

_But mark my words, if she is trying to take __my__ Arnold away, she is going to be sorry._

* * *

A/N: Misunderstandings abound in the next chapter, and Helga takes a strike against Brooke - stay tuned for next time. Clearly, Helga's attempt to stay calm is not going to last long even though she's trying. This chapter is trying to justify what she's going to do in future chapters, since I don't want her to be a jerk in this. Tough, but not a jerk.

Thanks for reading and please review! They make me happy (and hopefully speed up updates, this week has been crazy)


	4. This Means War!

Greetings Readers! Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy! Thanks to all those who have favorited and alerted this story!

A special thanks to all those who have reviewed:

**Miseryluvsdeath:** Thanks! I hope you like this!  
**Kpfan72491:** Grazie! Yeah, they are soooo awesome together!  
**NintendoGal55: **Well, she doesn't make assumptions right away – she has matured enough to try and wait to hear first – but her making assumptions leads to all kinds of hilarious misunderstandings…or at least I think they're funny. The drawing of the boundaries starts here – thanks for reviewing!  
**Anonymous Latina**: Merci! Yep, the time has come for Brooke. And they're adorable together, aren't they?  
**NJay:** Very well! Here's more!  
**Dizzymixer:** Gracias! You'll find out whether or not she knows in this chapter. I hope you like this chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold or any of its characters. Obviously.

* * *

Brainy was moving so quickly out of the classroom that he didn't see the other person trying to enter and crashed into them. Both fell to the floor with a yelp.

"I'm so sorry!" A contrite feminine voice exclaimed and Brainy's eyes popped open as his heart began thumping at an accelerated rate. That tended to happen whenever he heard her voice.

He stood up and instinctively brushed off his jeans before extending his arm out to the girl on the floor. "That's okay, Lila. In fact, you shouldn't be apologizing at all – it was my fault. I was kind of in a hurry."

"That explains it," Lila smiled as she grabbed his hand and let him pull her to her feet, "what's up?"

"I'm on a mission," Brainy groaned, "to find out more about Brooke before Helga explodes. She's determined that Brooke's out to get Arnold, and I'm trying to prove to her that Brooke has no idea that Arnold's taken…"

"Oh," Lila said, and then furrowed her eyebrows, "let me go with you."

"Why's that?"

"No offense, Brainy, but I'm not sure how she'd like to have her romance life or lack thereof discussed with a boy. She might take it better coming from another girl."

Brainy chewed on the idea for a minute before nodding. "That's a good idea. Let's go." The two began walking down the hallway, and after a few minutes he found himself staring at Lila, at her beautiful face with her eyes alight with kindness and humor, and the warm, friendly spirit that she exuded with every movement. It really came as no surprise that he had fallen for her, given how wonderful she was, but he wasn't foolish enough to imagine that she would like him back. He had this unfortunate penchant for falling for girls that were beyond her reach: Helga's heart had always been for Arnold, and Lila was just too good for him. But that didn't stop him from hoping.

Brainy was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice Lila gazing at his face. Seeing him always made her heart thump almost painfully, but she couldn't just look away – she loved him. When he'd really come out of his shell as they'd begun high school, she had been able to see how smart and funny he was. Even more so, Lila could see how compassionate and selfless he was, especially with Helga and Phoebe, and her heart would always melt when he would turn that compassionate gaze on her. If only he looked at her like that more often – but that would be setting herself up for heartbreak. She'd known for a long time, even when he was mostly silent, that his heart belonged to Helga and probably always would even if his feelings were unrequited. Lila tended to be oblivious to the admiration given her by most boys her age, but she noticed it a little bit. Besides a little embarrassment at the attention, she didn't think much of it – the only one whose admiration she wanted was Brainy…

Blinking out of her stupor, she noticed that he was looking back at her, and her face flamed. _So much for being subtle_, she groaned internally and then cleared her throat. "Do you think that Brooke will take the news well?"

"Huh?" Brainy shook his head thoroughly to rid it of the pleasant, hazy thoughts he'd been musing over. "Oh. I hope so. Otherwise, it could get messy."

Lila giggled. "I'll say, we don't need a repeat of _Romeo and Juliet_."

Brainy stopped and gave her a confused look. "What do you mean?"

Lila raised an eyebrow. "Don't you remember why Helga was Juliet?"

Actually, Brainy had had a pretty bad head cold at the time and wasn't able to follow Helga during that time. "What do you mean by 'why?' She did a really good job."

Lila's heart fell; he obviously still had feelings for her. "Of course she did, Brainy, but she was fourth understudy. Fourth. Most productions don't go through that many actresses." She laughed, "She was able to get the part because she played psychological games with the other Juliets until they dropped out. I'm not sure what she'd do to Brooke…"

"Oh," Brainy frowned, "What did she do to you?" Even though Helga was his friend, he didn't like the idea of her scaring his – of her scaring Lila.

"Not a thing," Lila grinned, "I was the only one who knew why she was doing it – she wanted to kiss Arnold. I just made her tell me and then I stepped out."

Brainy laughed appreciatively; that sounded like Lila. "Lila, you're amazing." His face flamed red at the slip, but Lila had heard him. Her head spun around to face him, but unfortunately she chose not to see where she was going…

The gap between the tiling of the floor by the library was too small to cause most people problems, but Lila had relatively small, dainty feet that fit perfectly into the space. When she tried to continue walking, the foot came free with a painful wrench, and she fell to the ground with a pained cry.

Brainy was by her side in an instant. "Lila, are you okay? What happened?"

She tried to laugh, but it came out as a strangled sound. "Oh, I'm fine – I just tripped." She attempted to rise to her feet, but was unable to put any weight on her injured ankle and crashed back onto the floor with a yelp. Her eyes welled with tears of pain, despite her attempts to keep them back, and her teeth clenched.

"No, you're not." Brainy's voice was surprisingly stern and he rolled up the cuff of her jeans. He gave a hiss of sympathy pain at the ankle, which was a painful collage of bright red, sickly green, and dark purple. He glared back at the tile where she'd tripped and growled. "They really need to patch that up."

Lila attempted to get up again, but simply fell back to the ground with a whimper. Brainy looked back at her and his eyes softened. "Come on, we need to get you to the nurse."

Her face was becoming rapidly pale, but she shook her head. "But Brainy, we need to –"

"Lila," Brainy put his hand on her shoulder, which made her heart beat faster and she smiled through the pain. "We need to get your ankle looked at now – I've never seen an injury bruise that quickly or that badly."

Lila blushed with embarrassment. "Uh, Brainy, I don't think I can move." She rolled up her other pant leg to reveal a dark bruise covering the side of her calf. "I took most of the weight of the fall on this leg." She grimaced apologetically. "Could you maybe bring the nurse here?"

"I have a better idea." As Lila looked perplexedly at him, Brainy smirked internally before quickly scooping her into his arms, taking care to gently support her legs so as not to aggravate her injuries. She squealed slightly and wrapped her arms around his neck for support. Brainy stopped breathing for a moment at the feel of her smooth arms around his neck and struggled to fight back his blush at how good it felt to hold her in his arms. As it was, he gave her a smirk when she glared playfully at him. "Come on, let's go get that ankle looked at."

Lila blushed furiously as he carried her down the hallway, hiding her face against his chest. Brainy was so focused on his goal on getting her to the nurse that he didn't notice the other girl standing by her locker and talking on her cell phone. That was unfortunate.

"He's so sweet!" Brooke exclaimed to her friend back to her hometown. She gave a quick look at the small mirror in the locker and twisted one of her curls critically with her finger. "He's been helping me all week and…I think he might be interested." There was a pause. "Oh, he's really cute – his hair's really blond and his eyes are so blue…I don't know why he doesn't have a girlfriend, but I'm not complaining." She glared at her friend in absentia. "Of course I wouldn't if he had a girlfirned! I'm not a homewrecker. Oh!" Brooke glanced down the hall to see Arnold approaching. "He's coming to help me with my schedule now, I'll talk to you later."

Brooke smiled broadly at him as she turned off her cell phone. It was a really good thing he didn't have a girlfriend.

**···**

Helga ground her teeth audibly, and Phoebe turned to face the sound. "Just relax, Helga. He'll get back when he gets back."

Helga remained quiet for about ten seconds before bursting out, "But what if he couldn't find her? What if she didn't believe him when he said I was dating Arnold?" Her eyes widened dramatically. "What if she knocked him out when he tried to reason with her?"

Phoebe shook her head. "You are so dramatic. Look, I bet he'll be back any minute. Besides," an uncharacteristic smirk crossed her face, "if he couldn't be knocked out when you punched him, I doubt she could do anything to him."

"Hey!" Helga exclaimed, grinning. "Why, I oughta –" Her voice came to a sudden stop, and Phoebe looked in the direction of the hallway where Helga was staring. Arnold and Brooke were passing by, and Arnold caught Helga's eye and waved at her. Brooke followed suit, giving the two other girls a friendly smile. Unfortunately, Helga didn't see it that way…

_She's smirking at me! The witch – she has to know and now she's trying to steal Arnold from me._ Helga's fist clenched, and Phoebe looked at her friend's face and gulped. She'd seen that look before.

"Phebes," Helga grunted as she took her pink ribbon from her backpack and tied it around her forehead, "as you know, this means war."

**···**

"Helga," Phoebe groaned as she swept a lock of her hair out of her face, panting for breath after running through the school, "Don't you think…we're a little…old for this?"

"Hardly!" Helga yelled back as she finished filling the bucket, tied a final knot, and stood back to admire her handiwork. "This girl's got to learn that my Arnold's off-limits – and if just telling her didn't work, I'm ready to take a more…creative approach." There was a sound of footsteps off in the distance, and Helga's head shot up. "They're coming! Hurry up!"

Phoebe rolled her eyes as she let her best friend drag her into the shadows; they hadn't gone through any 'Sabotage Arnold's Lady Friends" missions since sixth grade, but the ritual was basically the same…only these pranks seemed to be a lot more elaborate. _At least we have a free-period right now_, Phoebe thought as she looked over the complicated catapult Helga had set up in the middle of the hallway. Helga had borrowed it from the European History club, and it was a perfect historical replica – although Phoebe knew for a fact that ancient European warriors did not use knotted shoelaces to trigger the mechanism, or use whipped cream as the projectile…

"Watch out, boyfriend-stealer!" Helga hissed triumphantly under her breath, and she pulled the knotted shoelaces as the shadows of the oncoming people fell into the hallway.

It went exactly as Helga had pictured it; the crash as the catapult released the cream, Brooke's shriek of surprise, the delightful squelch of pie meeting skin. It was an added bonus that the pied person stumbled back from the blow and crashed into the lockers. It all went as planned – until Helga peeked around the corner and saw her boyfriend leaning against the lockers, wiping cream out of his eyes.

"Arnold!" Brooke cried out and walked over to him, pulling a packet of tissues out of her backpack. Handing him a few, she began dabbing at his face. Helga could feel the steam billowing out of her ears, and ground her teeth as Phoebe dragged her back to the drawing board.

"Okay, phase two…"

**···**

"Helga," Phoebe asked in a long-suffering voice, "couldn't we just tell Arnold that we think Brooke likes him?"

Helga chose to ignore the foolish question and continued tying thin, transparent cords about ankle-height between several pillars of the courtyard. This plan would be absolutely fool-proof: Brooke would fall after tyring to make a move on Arnold, and…well, the rest hadn't been worked out yet.

The bell rang, and the two girls hid behind the pillars. Arnold and Brooke began walking towards the tables in the courtyard. Brooke's foot snagged on the wire and she bean to fall, but Arnold managed to catch her before she hit the ground. Arnold looked confused, Brooke looked ecstatic, and Helga looked like she was about to spit nails. She walked out from behind the pillar and growled. "Why didn't it work? Come on Phebes," she turned to her hesitant partner in crime, "back to the drawing board."

Phoebe tilted her head slightly in thought. "Should we get rid of the string first?"

"No time for that," Helga replied, "we've got work to do! Besides nothing will happen."

A few minutes later, the bell rang for lunch, and Eugene began hurrying out towards the courtyard so he could get there before Sheena did – it was their two year anniversary and he'd got a special surprise planned. Unfortunately, although Eugene had gained some height since grade school, he'd not lost any of his clumsiness, and his foot caught in the wire. He did a belly-flop onto the floor of the courtyard, causing a slight disturbance in the students. Harold ran over to laugh, not noticing the wire, and also tripped. Sheena saw her boyfriend on the ground and ran to the rescue, and tripped.

In less than ten minutes, the biggest pileup of students in school history was between the two pillars, the product of a bizarre domino effect turn of events that would make the school nurse break into a cold sweat for years to come.

**···**

Both girls had rolled up their shirt sleeves in the beginning of the preparation for Plan 3, but still ended up with their shirts dripping wet. "Helga," Phoebe said as she tied another knot, "do I ever went to knew where you got all these water balloons on such short notice?"

"I have connections," Helga said, tying off the last balloon.

The two were sitting at the top of the stairwell, a large bucket of water balloons between them. Helga planned to drop them towards Brooke when she walked underneath the stairwell. It didn't seem to be the most _effective_ way of warning the new girl off Arnold, but there was no telling Helga. Brooke walked out beneath them, with Arnold following closely behind. Helga quickly dumped the entire bucket of balloons and ducked out of the line of sight. There was a distinctly male yelp of surprise, and soon afterward a dripping Arnold squelched his way to the gym for a new set of clothes.

Helga leaned against a convenient wall and groaned. Phoebe leaned over, "Helga, you do realize that you seem to be getting Arnold more than Brooke."

"Yeah."

Phoebe brightened. "Does that mean that you're going to stop this?"

Helga gave a very sneaky smile. "Oh, no, Phebes. Just means I need to take a slightly different approach…"

**···**

Brooke floated back to her locker as though she were on air. She'd got to spend almost the whole time with Arnold, and she was thinking that maybe he was starting to be interested in her, too.

_Although that may be just wishful thinking,_ she thought to herself as she spun the combination on her locker. The locker swung upon, and suddenly she saw –

She screamed. _Not those, anything but those, they freak me ou-_

But much to her dismay, they were real, and the next thing she knew was she was flat on her back, covered with a multi-colored layer of gummy bears, which had streaming out from her open locker. She shuddered and began frantically brushed the sweet sickiness. _Ugh – I absolutely hate –_

Brooke's eyes caught on something strange hanging from the locker door. She carefully pulled it out and looked at it. It was a pink ribbon which seemed oddly familiar…her mind tried to figure out where she'd seen it when she gasped. It had been on that blond girl's head in her English class – and she'd been sitting close by when Brooke had told that friendly girl Sheena her bizarre fear of gummy bears.

Brooke's hand clenched around the ribbon. _So that's who's been attacking us all day! Both me and Arnold – well, I'm not going to stand for it!_

_If it's a fight she wants, it's a fight she'll get._

* * *

A/N: Uh-oh, Brooke's caught on. It's about to get crazy! What did you think of Helga's attempts at drawing the boundaries? Don't worry, it gets better. Also...Helga and Brooke have actual face-to-face confrontation! It's going down!

And, ah…BrainyxLila goodness.

Thanks for reading and please review! They make me happy!


	5. Showdown

Greetings Readers! I apologize for the lateness of this update, but finals and writer's block hit simultaneously…I hope that this feels worth the wait. Once again, thanks to all those who have favorited and alerted this story – you are awesome!

As always, a special thanks to those who have reviewed:

**Kpfan72491:** Thanks very much, I hope you like this chapter!  
**NJay:** Thanks for your review! I worked hard on this, I hope that you like it.  
**NintendoGal55:** I liked the prank idea, but here is the scene where Helga confronts Brooke – I hope it comes off okay. Thanks for all your reviews!  
**Loca4Anime:** No worries, I love getting reviews whenever! You get to see a little bit about what Brooke, Helga, and Arnold were thinking, so hopefully that helps. I hope you like this!  
**MiseryluvsDeath:** Oh, she finds out – and not subtly. Merci!  
**acosta perez jose ramiro: **Grazie! Nope, he couldn't – I like making him oblivious, and I hope it builds dramatic tension, hahaha. I'm evil. I hope you like this.  
**Anonymous Latina:** Oh, it's on for this chapter! Thanks for reviewing, and I hope you like this chapter.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Hey Arnold, etc. etc. Sigh.

* * *

Most people from the old gang had learned not to approach Helga when she wore an expression like that, and even fewer would dare to prod her when she was in that state, having learned painfully that it was a bad idea. However, Phoebe, being her best friend, was not worried about either of them, knowing Helga wouldn't hurt her, and so felt free to implement either when she felt it necessary. And it was definitely necessary.

"Not now, Phebes," Helga groaned, sweeping her sweaty hair out of her face, as their gym class rounded the track for a final lap.

Phoebe was jogging nimbly beside her. "Oh, I think now's a good time, Helga."

"Phebes…" It was more of a sigh than a groan.

"I mean it," they rounded the far end of the track, "Helga, you're one of the smartest people I know," there was a snort of dissent from Helga, "but you haven't been acting like it." They turned another corner, "You find out that somebody might be making moves on Arnold, and what do you do? You regress us back several years and start playing pranks!"

Helga whipped her head around to look at Phoebe, "You agreed to help."

Phoebe gave her an almost scathing look, "I seem to remember fighting you on that, but that doesn't matter. What matters is you've been acting beneath you – the Helga I know wouldn't hide behind pranks anymore, she'd go and confront the problem."

They came to a stop, and all the girls stood breathing heavily for a moment before returning to the locker rooms.

Helga, who'd been musing over Phoebe's words on the walk back to the locker room and during her quick shower, walked up to her friend who was standing by their lockers already in her school clothes. Helga took the towel hanging around her neck and tossed it into a locker. She turned and grinned, "I've been an idiot, I guess."

Phoebe smiled gently and shrugged.

"Yeah, I have – but I don't always think straight when it comes to Arnold, you know that."

Phoebe snorted. Of course she knew that, she'd been on far too many spying missions, sabotage missions, and stalking sessions not to have picked that up.

"It's just taken so long to get this far," Helga continued, "and I can't handle losing him."

"You're not going to lose him – he loves you too much. But I do think you need to talk to Brooke," Phoebe paused, "nicely, and get all of this straightened out. Launching into pranks couldn't help anyone and, if anything, they've hurt Arnold."

Helga peered into her locker. "You're right, Phebes. I'll be the bigger person here, and take her aside, and – Phebes?" Helga stopped, then continued, "Where are my school clothes?"

"They're not in there?"

"No," Helga began searching, "they're not where they usually are – and I am not going to school soaking wet."

Phoebe looked at the top of the locker, where there was a shelf of sorts. She pointed, "Have you looked up there?"

Helga shook her head. "Don't usually put anything up there, but I might as well check." She jumped up, glanced at the top shelf, and frowned lightly. "Well, something's up there. Can you get me the stool?"

The school, realizing that they'd built lockers that were too tall for many students, but attempted to remedy the problem by leaving a few short stools in the locker rooms. Phoebe grabbed the closest one and put in front of Helga's locker.

"Thanks," Helga jumped onto the stool and wobbled slightly. Then she stood on her tiptoes and peered over the top of the shelf. "Well, I see something up there." And then she reached.

The following chain of events happened in a rushed blur, but all of the locker room occupants saw what happened. The front legs of the stool sagged forward, causing Helga to pitch head-first into the locker. The added weight on the shelf caused it to slant violently and sent all of the contents flying toward her. The school clothes were a welcome sight, but the barrage of water balloons that followed certainly wasn't. The shriek Helga wore as the water balloons hit her already wet gym clothes echoed throughout all of the locker rooms.

Despite the comical appearance Helga gave standing dripping wet with her hair hanging limply in her face, but no one who'd known her for any amount of time would have laughed, remembering her shows of fiery temper when she was embarrassed. It made finding the source of the nervous giggles all the more easy.

"You!" Helga's voice was pure venom, and no one could blame Brooke for attempting to hide in her locker after having been discovered. Helga advanced, fire in her eyes. "That's it! I'm not taking any more of this – it's you and me…"

The bell rang, and phoebe grabbed Helga's sopping sleeves. "Helga, we have to go – we have class…"

"Fine," Helga hissed, pulling her arm free and leveling a finger at Brooke. "You, me, gym after school. We are going to settle this." Brooke nodded numbly and Helga grabbed her school clothes and stalked off to the bathroom with as much dignity as she could muster.

Brooke gulped. _What have I gotten myself into?_

**···**

"So, how can I help you on this fine day?"

Brooke shifted nervously in the darkness of the small room and said, "I need help – I was pranking this girl to get her back for all these pranks she'd been pulling on me." She rubbed her forehead. "I thought it'd get her off my back, but now she's going to get me in the gym after school." Brooke leaned forward, "And one of the guys in my class told me you were helpful with stuff like this."

There was an almost maniacal chuckle from the other person in the room. "Sounds like you're dealing with Helga Pataki."

Brooke furrowed her eyebrows. "I guess?"

"Blonde hair, likes wearing a pink ribbon, has an unibrow…"

"That's her!"

"Yep, we're dealing with Helga, then. Sure, I'll help – it's always interesting to match wits with her. After school, in the gym?" Brooke nodded. "Okay, I'd be ready for you then. Just…be careful when you walk in."

Brooke beamed, "Thanks!" but then her face fell. "But no one will get hurt, right?"

"Of course not!" The voice sounded affronted, but as he watched her leave, he thought to himself, _at least probably not…I think._

The teen was just beginning to get up from his chair and head towards the door, when somebody banged it open and switched the bright lights on. He shielded his eyes against the glare. "Hey!"

"Oh, knock it off, Curly. I need your help."

"Geez, Helga, would you warn a guy?"

"That's what you get for sitting in dark rooms between classes. Now, I need your help."

Curly rubbed his eyes ruefully. "Like I owe you anything. What?"

"Okay, I'm calling some girl out after school, and I think she might be taking some extra…precautions for when I get there. She already pranked me good this afternoon –"

He burst into roars of maniacal laughter. "Somebody pranked you? Bwahahahaha!"

Helga glared at him. "Oh, shut up. Will you help by setting up some precautions for me?"

The smirk on Curly's face was nothing compared to his internal smirk at the prospect of pulling a prank on the two girls simultaneously. "Sure. But you owe me something in return." He leaned forward, "The hair of a beautiful woman…"

"Ugh, Curly," Helga drew back with a grimace.

"Not yours!" His face became dreamy, "Rhonda's…"

In a swift movement, Helga had pulled Curly out of his chair and pinned him against the wall. "How about you help me, and I don't tell Rhonda that you're trying to collect pieces of her hair again."

Curly nonchalantly shrugged. "That works."

"Right." Helga let him go, "we're meeting right after school at the gym. Can you be ready then?"

"Yeah," Curly stretched his neck, "I got a free period, so I have time to set things up."

"Good." Helga nodded, and she left without another word.

Curly followed shortly afterward, rubbing his hands gleefully. _This is gonna be good – now where'd I put those fireworks?_

**···**

Lila blushed as Brainy helped the nurse wrap up her ankle. As much as the ankle hurt, the pleasant sensations she felt when Brainy's fingers brushed against her skin seemed to overpower them. But as much as she liked him being nearby and looking that worried about her, Lila knew he had other things to do. "Brainy, it's nice of you to stay, but you can leave if you want. You've got to have other things you need to get done…"

"Don't worry about it, Lila," Brainy said cheerfully, "I'm here to help you out." Maybe he was missing class for this, but he was thoroughly enjoying being Lila's knight in shining armor.

"How did you manage to do this?" The school nurse, a naturally mothering type, had finally fluttered over to help, having been fully occupied with tending to the injuries of several students who had somehow tripped in the courtyard in one of the worst pile-ups she'd ever seen.

"I got my shoe caught in the floor by the library," Lila began, "when we were on our way to –" Lila suddenly stopped and her eyes widened in realization. "Brainy…"

Brainy looked into her worried face, and then his expression changed to match hers as he remembered what their mission had been. Lila managed to restrain herself while the nurse finished wrapping her ankle, but then she nearly bolted from the cot in her effort to get to the door. Brainy caught her, "Hold on a minute, Lila."

Lila gave him a plaintive look that made her legs weak. "Brainy, we don't have a minute. Helga's probably gone crazy by now." She once again tried to get off the cot, but Brainy stopped her. Instead he scooped Lila into his arms and placed her in a nearby wheelchair. He was about to push her out the door in search of Helga or Brooke when they nearly bumped into Curly who was talking animatedly on his cell phone about fireworks that he was about to use in the gym…and how big of a surprise they were going to give the girls in there.

Brainy froze and Lila stiffened. Slowly they turned to each other with equally wide-eyed expressions.

"I think we'd better find Arnold." Lila said quietly.

"Yeah," Brainy nodded as he quickly wheeled her down the hall.

**···**

"Would it do any good to tell you to calm down?" Phoebe panted as she trotted briskly behind Helga.

"No," Helga said as she stomped towards the gym, several freshmen and a few seniors jumping out of the way. "She is going to get a piece of my mind – in spades."

Phoebe considered arguing some more, but then decided to conserver her air for the sprint towards the gym, which was growing rapidly closer. They'd nearly made it to the door when Helga saw something that made her instantly veer off course. Phoebe grimaced, _She couldn't even make it into the gym before flying off the handle_ and ran over to where Helga now had Brooke pinned against the wall.

"Ow!" Brooke yelped before glaring at Helga, "Isn't this extreme for a stupid prank?"

Helga scowled at her, "A stupid…look, what is your problem?"

"My problem? You're the one who has the problem!" Brooke said, rather bravely considering she was currently being pinned by the girl she was yelling at.

"What?"

"You've been after me all this time for no good reason!"

"No good…" Helga loosened her grip slightly in disbelief, although not enough to let Brooke escape. Her glare was scathing. "Oh, I have a perfectly good reason for doing this – you've been trying to steal my boyfriend ever since you got here!"

Brooke's eyes widened, "What? But I – "

Helga cut her off. "Oh no, you don't get to talk right now! I'm talking! Listen, I have loved that boy for almost my entire life, and have worked hard to get where I am today. I've had to face heartbreak when he liked other girls and I've had to do all sorts of crazy things just to get his attention. For years I couldn't even show him how I felt because I was too terrified to let him see how weak I can get around him. And when I finally, finally get him to look at me and like me, you come up and try to steal him away!" Her glare intensified, "And I'm not giving him up to somebody who doesn't care whether he has a girlfriend or not! I gave you a chance because maybe, maybe you didn't know he was taken – but now I know better!"

Brooke was absolutely mortified, but managed to choke out. "Arnold's your boyfriend?"

Helga snorted. "Of course he is – and you already knew that."

Brooke blinked several times and tried desperately to convince her. "No, I didn't, I really didn't! I'd never do that to somebody."

Helga looked puzzled and let her go completely. "But then…what about Brainy?"

"Who?"

"She's telling the truth, Helga." Brainy said, pushing open the gym doors and pushing Lila out in the wheelchair. "I never got around to asking her – Lila got hurt and I took her to the nurse.

Phoebe, being a medical student in the works, came over to the wheelchair and kneeled beside Lila's ankle, examining it thoughtfully. "What are you guys doing here?"

Lila spoke. "We were on our way to find Helga when we saw Curly walk by and talk about some fireworks he was going to set off," the two girls looked at each other guiltily, "and we figured we should grab Arnold to talk him out of it."

Helga wheedled, "So, where is Arnold?"

Brainy inclined his head backwards. "Still in there, Curly is hard to talk down from explosions sometimes."

"Oh," Helga turned to Brooke, "You wouldn't have happened to ask him for help, would you?" Brooke nodded. "Huh, I did too. Well, at least he got stopped before either of us went in there – we'd be barbequed." Helga looked down at her feet, cleared her throat, and said, "Look, I'm…sorry. I guess I shouldn't have flipped like that."

Brooke laughed, "I would have, too – Arnold's a great guy, but I wouldn't have tried flirting with him if I'd known he was taken." She smiled, "I don't think he noticed though, is he always that oblivious?"

"Yes," the rest of the group replied.

"Ah," Brooke giggled, and then grew serious as she turned to Helga. "I really am sorry too, Helga – if I'd have known."

"Hey, no worries," Helga said, calm now that her ties to Arnold were protected, "it's just a good thing we figured this out before everything really blew up in our faces."

"Blow up?" They heard Curly's voice from the slightly open gym doors, "Well, okay."

"Curly, what are you - ?" Arnold tried to say, but then his voice was drowned by a sudden blast of color, light, and sound, swiftly followed by a very confused yell.

The others just shook their heads and groaned before darting inside to help.

**···**

It was nearly time for the school to close when the group slowly left the nurse's office. Brainy and Lila went down to Lila's locker to pick up her books before Brainy took her home, and Phoebe followed closely to make sure Lila's ankle was all right. She took the time to look at both Brainy and Lila looking very cozy together before shooting Helga a very conspiratorial wink.

Brooke seemed to be okay too, even waving at Helga and Arnold before letting the nurse's aid, a boy in their year who seemed to be very interested in her, walk her down to her locker. Helga felt a lot better about the whole sabotage-the-nonexistant-relationship-with-Arnold plan when she heard Brooke's giggles balance out the soothing, deep tones of her escort. She seemed happy.

Curly had somehow emerged unscathed from the experience, just ecstatic at the shades of color he'd never seen before in a fireball, but Arnold hadn't been so lucky. The nurse had had to break out several new rolls of bandages to cover up the different bruises and scrapes, and he had a distinct hobble to his step as his girlfriend helped him out the door. Helga grimaced apologetically at the pained noises Arnold attempted to stifle in his throat.

She tried to lighten the mood. "You know, Football Head, you're cute when you're all bandaged up."

"Really?" He raised an eyebrow and smirked, "And you're beautiful when you're unnecessarily jealous."

Helga stopped breathing for a moment. "What do you mean, jealous?"

"Helga," Arnold smiled through his grimace, hugging her shoulders, "it was kind of obvious that you thought Brooke was interested in me these last few days. The pranks really proved it, although you kept getting me. For a while, I thought I was channeling Eugene!" He playfully glared at her, "And of course, hearing you yell outside the gym helped…"

"Oh," Helga's face burned bright red and she glanced furtively at the floor.

Arnold stopped walking and tilted her head up so she was looking him straight in the eyes. "Helga, Brooke is a wonderful girl and any guy would be lucky to have her…but you're the only girl for me."

"You mean that, Arnold?"

"Of course. Helga, you're funny, you're brave, you're beautiful. You're smart when you don't let your emotions take over. You're compassionate – when you're not on a rampage." He leaned down and kissed her gently. "But mostly, you're you – and that's who I love. No one else can ever be that, and don't forget it."

Helga blinked back the tears. "Something in my eyes…" Then she smiled up at him, "Oh, Arnold, that was sweet – and the most sappy thing I've ever heard."

"Really?" Arnold quipped, quirking an eyebrow and turning to walk down the hall, twining his fingers around hers, "I can think of some more things, eh hem. 'The boy with the cornflower hair, my beloved and my despair.'"

"Hey!" Helga yelped, playfully hitting him on the shoulder, making him wince, "That's not fair, fourth grade doesn't count."

Arnold laughed and pulled her closer to him. He kissed her on the forehead.

"Whatever you say, Helga."

* * *

A/N: And that's the end, there ain't no more. I hope you liked it! Originally when I wrote this, Brooke was going to be this awful terrible person that you wanted to get pranked within an inch of her life – and possibly seriously injured – but then I changed my mind. There are sometimes too many malicious OCs in these stories – it's like every new character is the personification of evil who must split up the dream team. So hopefully this OC was believable and likable.

Thanks for reading, and please review! They make me happy!


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